I had an epiphany this weekend.  It was something I might have read from Malcolm Gladwell- the importance  of placement.  Let me explain.

My little girl is an only child.  She likes to dress up, draw, paint, and watch movies.  I was increasingly anxious about the fact she never played with toys on her own.  I thought it was part of her being an only child, and looking for someone to play with- but I was an only child, and I remember playing on my own.  So what was it that stopped her from doing this activity?

This weekend it dawned on me- it’s placement .  Usually I would collect all of her toys from around the apartment , and place them in a box-nightly-in her room.   There they would stay until she found them again, and played with them- and the cycle would continue.  This time I took a smaller container  and placed all of her hand toys in it- I also left a small doll house  in the living room (the space in which she spends most of her time with her family).  The result- amazing.

A week later-Morgan now plays with the toys-daily.  What I have learned is that children- and possibly anyone – are drawn to objects that are either suggested or placed in an area of proximity.  It makes me think- in line with the politics of the media- how susceptible we all are to suggestion.  Now if we could just use this for good- in education, in environmental  awareness, in character development- what a better society we would be.